The GOP Has Become the Party of Adults Who Act Like Children

If there’s one thing I’ll take away from the 2016 presidential race, it’s how much more mature Democrats are than Republicans. While I’m sure conservatives will claim I’m biased, I completely believe if you took someone ignorant of United States politics and had them watch one Republican debate and then one Democratic debate, they would wonder why the heck you subjected them to the Republican debate in the first place. Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley conduct themselves with a professionalism befitting of a mature adult conversation, especially compared to the sideshow that follows Republicans wherever they go.

Donald Trump’s Twitter tirades alone are flat-out embarrassing. He’s a 69-year-old presidential candidate who whines and mopes on social media like a spoiled, petulant teenager with the vocabulary of a 4th grader.

When Clinton or Sanders spoke on matters pertaining to ISIS and the Middle East, it was done so with humanity, a level of professional decorum a topic of such magnitude demands. Both individuals clearly understand that what’s going on over there is extremely complex.

Meanwhile, on the Republican side you typically just get a bunch of tough talk and empty bravado. While it plays well to the millions of conservatives who get their jollies from people acting as if they’re a 1980’s pro wrestler cutting a promo, it’s rhetoric that has no real meaning or substance.

Even the respect Democrats show Republicans is head and shoulders above what they get back. While Clinton and Sanders disagree with most Republicans on how to go about dealing with ISIS, they’re not out there insinuating that Republicans don’t oppose terrorism enough like many within the GOP constantly try to do with Democrats. A large part of the Republican party’s foundation is built upon trying to make Democrats look weak on terror, if not flat-out un-American. Democrats don’t go around pushing the idea that Republicans don’t want to keep this country safe – they just disagree with how to go about doing it.

I’m not saying Democrats don’t levy any attacks against Republicans, but they’re not out there trying to insinuate that Republicans don’t care about fighting terrorism like their counterparts often do.

While Clinton and Sanders disagree on certain policy stances, they do so with respect toward one another in a manner befitting two people who are running for the highest office in our land. When Republicans disagree with one another, they get in heated back and forth attacks, trying to belittle one another with pre-rehearsed talking points and petty insults. Heck, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are currently sparring with each other over who seems to hate immigrants the most.

Leave it to Republicans to have two candidates who are children of immigrants who oppose common sense immigration reform.

When Democrats talk about helping the middle class, they propose plans that help the middle class. When Republicans talk about helping the middle class, they propose plans… that benefit the rich.

If Clinton or Sanders talks about education, they push for policies that would make it much more affordable for every American to have access to a quality education. When Republicans like Rubio talk about education… they belittle college graduates and mock liberal arts majors – and don’t even get their facts straight.

The bottom line is, when Americans go to the polls next year it really has become a choice between wanting adults to run this country properly, or wanting spoiled immature children to run it into the ground.

Allen Clifton is a native Texan who now lives in the Austin area. He has a degree in Political Science from Sam Houston State University. Allen is a co-founder of Forward Progressives and creator of the popular Right Off A Cliff column and Facebook page. Be sure to follow Allen on Twitter and Facebook, and subscribe to his channel on YouTube as well.